Genital piercings for women were banned by the Georgia House Wednesday as
lawmakers considered a bill outlining punishments for female genital
mutilation.

The bill would make such mutilation punishable by two to 20 years in
prison. It makes no exception for people who give consent to have the
procedure performed on their daughters out of religious or cultural
custom.

An amendment adopted without objection added "piercing" to the list of
things that may not be done to female genitals. Even adult women would not
be allowed to get the procedure. The bill eventually passed 160-0, with no
debate.

Amendment sponsor Rep. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, was slack-jawed when told
after the vote that some adults seek the piercings.

"What? I've never seen such a thing," Heath said. "I, uh, I wouldn't
approve of anyone doing it. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to
be doing."

The ban applies only to women, not men. The bill has already been
approved by the Senate but now must return to that chamber because of the
piercing amendment. Both chambers of the Legislature must agree on a
single version of a bill before it can go to the governor for final
approval.

Animal testing is so controversial Cambridge was forced to scrap a brain disease lab. Can we develop medicines without vivisection? David Adam investigates

...Of the alternatives that could be developed, most are aimed at eliminating
the need for animals in testing toxicity of chemicals and potential
medicines.

Using human skin cells taken from breast reduction and circumcision operations, Richard Clothier in Frame's laboratory at Nottingham University has developed a way of testing for negative reactions to exposure to light. Wendy Purcell, at the University of West of England, is developing balls of human cells that can be used to mimic the action of organs. The next problem is convincing other scientists and the regulatory authorities that such models give results as good as, or better than, those from live animals.

[As usual, the ethics of using human skin cells "taken" from circumcision operations are not expored.]

BISHO - Deaths due to circumcision complications have dropped dramatically
since the introduction of the Application of Health Standards Act in the
Eastern Cape and indications are that the lives of more initiates will be saved in
future.

Before there were 1042 admissions, 34 genital mutilations and 50 deaths;
now 84 admissions, seven mutilations and 20 deaths.

Sydney (dpa) - Circumcision protects men against HIV and reduces the risk of cervical cancer in their partners, a conference in Australia has been told, but some experts strongly disagree.

Melbourne University's Roger Short told doctors meeting in Perth that a study in India[of men attending STD clinics] showed an eightfold reduced risk of HIV in those who had been circumcised [who would probably all have been Muslim, with a very different lifestyle from the intact Hindu men].

He explained that removing the foreskin also removes the receptor sites through which the HIV virus can enter.

He also quoted research in England [no, published in the New England Journal of Medicine] which showed that circumcized men were less likely to contract the human papilloma virus that is responsible for almost all cervical cancer passed on to women.

Circumcision, popular in Australia in previous decades, has now fallen to around one in ten males.

Not everyone in the audience was impressed with Short's paper.
''To believe that undertaking circumcision will prevent HIV infection is irresponsible,'' Stan Wisniewski said. ''It's alarming that statistics taken from regions where men practise unprotected sex, and may have dubious hygiene information, are being used to support the practice of neonatal circumcision.''

Wisniewski, a clinical associate professor at the University of Western Australia in Perth, argued that there is no reason to believe circumcision prevents the distribution of sexually transmitted disease in modern Western societies [or anywhere else].

''There is no scientific evidence that the prophylactic removal of the foreskin sustains any benefit and there is no solid epidemiological evidence to support the theory that circumcision prevents STDs or justifies a policy of involuntary mass circumcision as a public health measure,'' he said.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of adult circumcision on sexual
function in men circumcised only for religious or cosmetic reasons.
METHODS: The study group consisted of 42 male patients with a median age of 22.3 years (range 19 to 28) referred for circumcision from June 2002 to January 2003. Of the 42 men, 39 desired circumcision for religious reasons. Before circumcision, their sexual performance was evaluated using the Brief Male Sexual Function Inventory (BMSFI) and ejaculatory latency time. The BMSFI evaluation and ejaculatory latency time measurements were repeated after a postoperative interval of at least 12 weeks. The scores in the five main sections of the BMSFI and the ejaculatory latency times before and after circumcision were analyzed.
RESULTS: The differences in the mean BMSFI scores were not statistically significant in any of the five sections. However, the mean ejaculatory latency time was significantly longer after circumcision (P = 0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: Adult circumcision does not adversely affect sexual function. The increase in the ejaculatory latency time can be considered an advantage rather than a complication.

Adult Circumcision Affects Sexual PerformanceCircumcised Men Take Longer to Reach Ejaculation, but That May Be OK

By Jeanie Lerche Davis
Adult circumcision affects a guy's sexual performance -- but not in a
bad way, according to [the opinion of the author of] a new study.

Circumcised men take longer to reach ejaculation, which can be viewed
as "an advantage, rather than a complication," writes lead researcher
Temucin Senkul, a urologist with GATA Haydarpasa Training Hospital in
Istanbul, Turkey. His paper appears in the current issue of the
journal Adult Urology.

Circumcision -- the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis --
typically occurs immediately after birth or during childhood, in the
Muslim and Jewish tradition. In western countries, too, most boys are
circumcised [no, only in the US].

But what about guys who don't get circumcised as babies, who decide on
circumcision when they are adults? Can it give them sexual problems
they didn't have before? That's what Sekul sought to determine.

In this study, Senkul enrolled 42 men -- all about 22 years old -- who
had not been circumcised. All but a few wanted circumcision for
religious reasons. All were heterosexual and sexually active, and none
was using a medication or device to promote erections.

Before the circumcision, doctors evaluated their sexual performance by
asking about sex drive, erection, ejaculation, problems, and overall
satisfaction.

The men were also asked to note how long they took to reach
ejaculation -- during at least three sessions of sexual intercourse. [Presumably they didn't use stopwatches, so in fact they just guessed]

Twelve weeks after the surgery, the men again answered detailed
questions about their sex lives. They reported on how long reaching
ejaculation took.

The results: Everything was working smoothly -- except ejaculation,
which took "significantly longer" after circumcision.

Adult circumcision may lessen the penis' sensitivity, resulting in a
delay to reach ejaculation, Senkul speculates. Or the boost to the
guy's self-esteem -- since Muslims consider circumcision to be a "must
of manhood" -- might cause the slow down. [This doesn't make sense.]

"We can say with more certainty that adult circumcision does not
adversely affect sexual function," writes Senkul. [This does not follow from the data.] The increase in time to reach ejaculation "can be considered an advantage rather than a complication." [Only if the man or his partner considered that he didn't take long enough before circumcision. This study says nothing about whether the amount of time the man took was compatible with the time his partner took.]

"We see lot of adults who want to be circumcised," Chad Ritenour, MD,
professor of urology at Emory University School of Medicine, tells
WebMD. He agreed to comment on Senkul's study.

"I bet every patient wouldn't tell you that ejaculation time changes,"
he says. "Also, I don't want anyone to interpret this as a cure for
premature ejaculation."

Most adult patients "are fairly motivated," Ritenour says. "I think
that's one reason why we don't hear about changes in sexual function.
It's not something forced on them. Motivation has a lot to do with how
they do afterward."

Men who have a chronic infection -- where there's no alternative but
circumcision -- likely experience the most problems afterward, he
says. Bad hygiene, especially in underdeveloped countries like Africa,
can lead to these serious infections and even penile cancer in
uncircumcised adults.

In the U.S., however, "the major reason to get circumcised is
cultural," Ritenour tells WebMD. "It's an unwritten custom that
whatever the father has, so does the son. In the U.S., there is no obvious medical reason to get circumcised."

Sure, sex will feel different to a newly circumcised adult, he says.
"You've just lost skin. You're used to having something there, and
it's different when it's gone. That's probably why ejaculation time is
different, because it feels different." [Anything but the obvious: cut off 10,000 nerve endings, have less sensitivity, take longer.]

A torture chair, an iron maiden, a knuckleduster, a tongue extractor,
flails. Insufficiently grim? Then watch the video of an amputation, or
shudder at the ancient equipment dentists once used to remove teeth.

One might have thought the public would go to great lengths to avoid such
reminders of the grisly past, but the Science Museum in London believes
otherwise. The instruments of torture and of developing medicine are
revealed in their original gruesomeness in a new exhibition on pain, which
opened today.

The show - entitled Pain: Passion, Compassion, Sensibility - examines
masochism, sadism, torture, amputation, childbirth and circumcision in
graphic detail, and comes with a warning that it is unsuitable for
unaccompanied children younger than 12.

Organisers have defended the exhibition - which runs until June - as a
serious exploration of the history of pain and the methods adopted to
tackle it, from quack medicine through to modern drugs.

Ken Arnold, of the Wellcome Trust, the scientific foundation which
organised the show in collaboration with the museum, said that it had to
be seen "in totality". He said: "We see that scientists over the past 400
years have added a huge amount to our understanding of pain, but we still
end up with puzzles. For example, we don't know why some people enjoy
pain."

Javier Moscoso, the exhibition's curator, said there were serious themes
underlying the exhibits. He said: "There will be people who come and say,
'What a display of horror'. For many visitors, this will be [like] the
London Dungeon. My advice to them would be to look more carefully."

FLORENCE -- In his native Somalia, Dr. Omar Abdulcadir recalls, he saw
all seven of his sisters undergo the girlhood ritual of genital cutting. Now,
in a public hospital in Florence, he is trying to offer an alternative.

The gynecologist, who runs what he said is Europe's first and only
Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation, has found
himself in the middle of a heated political and philosophical debate
after he requested permission from the local medical board to perform a
procedure that he said would maintain the initiation ritual associated with
genital cutting but save young girls from mutilation.

Several types of female genital cutting, sometimes called female
circumcision, are common in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, and Sudan.
In the most extreme form, part or all of the external genitalia is cut off
and the vaginal opening stitched closed -- a practice known as infibulation.

Abdulcadir said his alternative is noninvasive and practically painless
while still offering the symbolism of the ritual. It involves applying a
topical anesthetic, then pricking the clitoris with a needle and drawing
a drop or two of blood.

"I hope this practice will be eliminated," Abdulcadir said in a recent
interview. "But I was asked by them, by these women, to do something.

"It's difficult for those who are outside these communities to
understand, but in many African societies a woman is considered ugly,
unmarriageable, and unclean if she hasn't undergone the ritual," he said. "If a woman doesn't undergo the ritual, she risks being rejected not only by her
family but by the whole community."

Abdulcadir's proposal has raised broader questions about cultural
integration and women's rights throughout Europe. As countries struggle
to preserve their national identity by enacting new legislation, waves of
immigrants from Africa and Asia with different cultural traditions and
values continue to arrive.

...

"I am against this practice. I'm a doctor, and I respect the law," he
said. "But I hope that those who choose to say no [to his proposal] will
recognize that the problem exists and is not going away."

Can a pinprick spare women's suffering?
February 27 2004 at 02:57PM
[Quickwire]

By Frances d'Emilio

..."It is unacceptable to touch or harm, in even the slightest way, the
female organ," said Linda Weil-Curiel, a French human rights lawyer and a
participant in an international conference on Saturday in Florence on
female circumcision that is expected to discuss the doctor's proposal.

PENTICTON, B.C. - The parents of a newborn who died following circumcision surgery are pushing for hospitals to inform patients of the possible
dangers associated with the removal of foreskin.

Brent and Tanna McWillis's month-old son Ryleigh died in August 2002 after
he suffered severe hemorrhaging two days after he was circumcised at
Penticton Regional Hospital. [To the autopsy]

The parents were told that Ryleigh would experience some bleeding, but
they didn't realize how much [or rather, how very little] was too much.

Ryleigh's death renewed debate over male circumcision and also caught the
attention of a Seattle-based group called Doctor's [sic] Opposing Circumcision.

One of its members, lawyer John Geisheker, wants circumcision banned
globally, but in the meantime, he's willing to compromise and has asked
infants be kept in hospital for one day following surgery. [He also says the "facts ... collectively establish, on their face, gross ethical lapses and criminal negligence by the medical practitioners involved. "]

"We would like to see there be no outpatient circumcisions, because those
are the riskiest ones," said Geisheker. "The parents, although they may be
solicitous and loving, are not medically trained."

[Photo]Tanna McWillis and daughter Mackenna.
McWillis's son, Ryan, died from complications following
circumcision. CREDIT: Special to The Province

[Photo]Tanna McWillis's son, Ryleigh Roman Bryan
McWillis, died in August 2002.
CREDIT: Special to The Province

The tragic death of their infant son after a routine
circumcision in August 2002 still haunts a Vernon couple -- who
say they weren't properly informed about the signs of danger to
watch out for in post-operative care.

A coroner's report released this week into the death of one-month-old Ryleigh McWillis notes that the Penticton
Regional Hospital where the circumcision was done has
significantly improved the information pamphlet it gives
out to all parents, and has changed both follow-up care
and documentation for all circumcisions.

But Tanna McWillis says she and her husband, Brent, a
medical professional who worked at the hospital at the
time of his son's death, are disappointed that coroner
Chico Newell made no other recommendations.

"The coroner could have recommended that the hospital
and doctor clearly tell parents, 'Any bleeding's bad,' and
warn us what to look for. I didn't realize a baby can die
from losing as little as one ounce of blood," McWillis
said. [He could have recommended that hospitals and doctors not offer circumcision, and clearly tell parents, 'Any unnecessary surgery's bad.']

Brent McWillis, a lab technologist, transferred away from the
Penticton hospital after the death. The couple, who also have a
five-year-old daughter, relocated to Vernon.

"Brent still finds it too painful to talk about," said his 34-
year-old wife. "The nurses were our friends and a couple of them
who tried so hard to save our baby felt so badly they quit."

The Canadian Pediatric Society takes the position that
male circumcision exposes children to risk with no real
medical benefits.

Circumcision is no longer covered by medicare in
Canada and the numbers of male babies circumcised
have been rapidly dropping, down from a decade ago
when 60 to 90 per cent of all male babies born in North
America [no, only the US] were routinely circumcised shortly after birth.

At B.C. Children's Hospital, only 180 male babies were
circumcised of the 3,656 boys born in 2002-03, down
from the 274 circumcisions done of 3,544 boys born the
previous year, said hospital spokeswoman Marisa
Nichini.

Dennis Harrison of the Association for Genital Integrity
has asked Amnesty International to protest male
circumcision as "unnecessary pain and suffering."

Doctors Against Circumcision has demanded a total ban
on circumcision.

But circumcision is required in the Muslim and Jewish
faiths, and Jewish mohels use a rapid and safe
technique. [Yet Jewish and Muslim babies and children also die. "A rapid and safe technique" would not have saved Ryleigh.]

Tanna McWillis herself says she and her husband would probably
circumcise another male child.

"I was told a lot of people opposed to circumcision would
grandstand about my son's death, but we would do it again.[This is another reason parents should not be given the decision to make.]

"If I had been better informed on how to look after my
baby, it would never have happened." [This is not necessarily true. Modern absorbant diapers can easily soak up the amount of blood Ryleigh lost without showing anything.]

Ryleigh Roman Bryan McWillis, born July 21, 2002, was
a healthy, normal baby when his parents decided -- "just
because of family history," says Tanna -- to have him
circumcised on Aug. 20.

The doctor used a slightly different procedure than the
one described in hospital pamphlets, so the McWillis
family wasn't given written information to take home.

Ryleigh was still bleeding at the hospital, but was
checked by the doctor and sent home.

He was fussy all that day and a diaper that evening was
soaked with blood.

"It was pinkish because it was diluted by pee and they
hadn't told me what to watch out for," says Tannis.

Tannis sat up all night holding Ryleigh. When Brent got
up at 5 a.m., the baby's diaper was full of blood.

Ryleigh's parents rushed him to the Penticton hospital.
By noon, he had to be evacuated by air ambulance to
B.C. Children's Hospital. Despite transfusions of blood,
saline and antibiotics, the tiny baby was limp, pale and
failing.

Ryleigh's "prognosis was grim," notes the coroner's
report, and his parents were told of the "seriousness of
his situation." Despite "massive volume resuscitation,"
Ryleigh's organs and heart began to shut down.

And, says his mother, "I unplugged his life support at 5
a.m. on the 22nd of August, one month and one day after he was
born."

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A couple was charged Friday with agreeing to circumcise two young girls in what is believed to be among the first cases
filed under a federal law banning female genital mutilation.

Todd Cameron Bertrang, 41, and Robin Faulkinbury, 24, were arrested at their Canyon Country home after an FBI agent posing as a father of an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old contacted Bertrang via e-mail, then met with him to discuss the
procedure.

During an October 2002 meeting, Bertrang allegedly told the agents that "we
have to go into this realizing that to alter a female genitalia, in any
fashion, under 18, carries a five-year immediate prison sentence," an arrest
affidavit stated.

According to the criminal complaint, Bertrang is not licensed to practice
medicine in California. On his Web site, Bertrang says he is an aficionado of
body piercing and cutting who has performed body modifications on men and women.

Bertrang boasted to an undercover FBI agent that he had performed more female circumcisions than "anyone else in the Western Hemisphere," according to the affidavit.

Faulkinbury was identified to the agent as Bertrang's "slave" who assisted
him in the procedures.

Female circumcision, which may involve the removal of the clitoris or all the
external genitalia, is a traditional procedure in some African cultures but
has been condemned by the United Nations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lally said there was no mention made of
cultural reasons for the surgeries Bertrang and Faulkinbury agreed to.

Bertrang and Faulkinbury were charged with conspiracy to violate the federal
Prohibition of Female Mutilation Act of 1995, which outlaws the removal of certain sexual organs on girls under age 18 unless it is medically necessary and only then if performed by a licensed medical practitioner.

Lally said there never has been a decision or appeal in such a case, and he
had not heard of any cases even being filed under the law.

Bertrang and Faulkinbury were held without bail, and their lawyers left the
courtroom by a rear entrance and could not be reached for comment.

Each defendant could each face up to five years in prison if convicted.

JOHANNESBURG, 16 October (PLUSNEWS) - In an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, some 350 practitioners of ritual circumcision in Ethiopia's Gonder region have agreed to abandon the practice, as well as other forms of genital mutilation.

This follows a warning by local health officials that the HIV/AIDS pandemic was aggravated by such traditional practices, often as a result of instruments not being sterilised.

The head of one of the region's social services centres, Abebaw Gegit, was quoted by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) as saying: "The circumcisers and those engaged in harmful traditional practices have decided to abandon them after intensive sensitisation work by health officers."

Preparations are currently underway to provide loans for those abandoning the practice, to help them find alternative ways of making a living.

WATERFORD regional hospital, where a one-month-old baby died after a
botched home circumcision, is to offer the medical procedure on a
monthly basis, writes Dearbhail McDonald.

The service will accommodate requests by asylum seekers, Muslims and
Jews who want week-old male infants to be circumcised for cultural, ritual and religious reasons.

Last year Callis Osaghae, a 29-day-old baby who was circumcised at his
parents' home, was rushed to the hospital bleeding heavily after an
operation was carried out with a razor blade. He died the following
day.

Osagie Igbinedion, a Nigerian national, is charged with intentionally
or recklessly engaging in conduct that created a serious risk of death
or harm to the baby.

"Rarely are there medical conditions which require circumcision in childhood or later," said Dr Neville de Souza, a public health specialist who has pioneered the new service in the South Eastern
Health Board. "However, we have a responsibility for children in our care. If we do not provide a safe service, it will be sought elsewhere in unsafe conditions, that puts the lives of children at risk."

Micheal Martin, the Minister for Health, has appointed an advisory
committee on child circumcision that has not yet met.

Their responsiblity only extends to male children: if anyone proposed to circumcise female infants for "cultural, ritual and religious reasons", their response would be quite the reverse of the above. Why the double standard?